Monthly Archives: September 2015

Even experienced students and technology users can be thrown for a loop when they sign up for online courses. Online education, like many fields, is full of terminology that may not always be familiar to those who operate outside of its boundaries and can leave many learners confused as to just what instructors are asking of them.

This glossary aims to demystify these terms and help you get back to focusing on what really matters: being a successful student.

There’s nothing quite like the sinking feeling you get when you realize you totally bombed a test or turned in an assignment that you know isn’t your best work. While it might be too late to fix your mistakes for this assignment, if it’s still early enough in the semester you may still be able to pass your class, seriously learn the material, and salvage your GPA.

All of this can be made a bit more difficult in an online course where you’re learning at a distance and may not be able to meet with your professor or take advantage of all the academic support offered on campus, but it’s certainly not impossible and well worth the effort if you want to turn things around and get back on the right track in your online course. Here are some things you need to do in order to turn an academic misstep into a step in the right direction.

Exams, assignments, tests, discussions—the requirements for any course can be tiring and finding the motivation to keep going may be tough, especially if you’re attending classes while trying to balance work and family life. But motivating yourself can be even more challenging if you’re attending courses online without the course meetings, direct interaction, and reminders that you may have in a traditional course.

But just because it’s harder to get motivated doesn’t mean that online courses aren’t worth it—they offer flexibility that can’t really be matched by courses that you have to come to campus to attend. So what do you do? You learn some tricks that will help you to keep you going and get you back on track when you feel your motivation slipping.

“No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.”

While written nearly 400 years ago, these words from English poet John Donne still ring true today; humans need connection and to feel like part of a whole. The relationships we build with others are a big part of what gives us happiness, allows us to find success, and makes our day-to-day life fulfilling and rewarding.

While the first relationship you think of may not be that of teacher and student, your professors can be incredibly influential people in your life. But like any other relationship, the student-teacher relationship can’t flourish without some work. As an online student you may need to go the extra mile to connect with professors who are operating at a distance and whom you may never actually meet face-to-face.